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Whore of the Orient is LA Noire director's next game

George Miller's KMM studio has picked up the rights to LA Noire director Brendan McNamara's new script, titled Whore of the Orient.

George Miller may be best known for his work on Mad Max, Mel Gibson's futuristic action flick. However, he's found success with Happy Feet, and most recently, Happy Feet Two.

Ever since LA Noire developer Team Bondi closed its doors, Miller's studio, KMM, picked up many of the pieces. KMM is now home to a number of Team Bondi developers, including controversial director Brendan McNamara, who is now working on a new game for Miller, currently titled Whore of the Orient.

LA Noire impressed Miller so much that not only did he pick up the rights to McNamara's new game, which he previously dubbed "one of the greatest untold stories of the twentieth century," but he's given development duties of the Mad Max video game to McNamara's team as well.

Given the dramatic fallout surrounding LA Noire's release, why is KMM so confident about Team Bondi's ability to perform now? It's all about the money. "With the government’s support we can immediately go forward with two games," KMM's Doug Mitchell explained to Financial Review (via Develop). In addition, Mad Max publisher Warner Bros. is gung-ho about Mad Max, as "the potential in the video games sector is massive... the cost of a film may be $170 million – twice that to market it – whereas the basic cost of making a game might be 10% of that."

So what has the remains of Team Bondi been up to since its acquisition of KMM? Well, apparently, they helped work on Miller's film about dancing penguins. "What’s fascinating, though, is that Team Bondi immediately went to work on Happy Feet Two," Miller explained. "People can move from a game to a movie and be completely at home, because it’s the same skills, process – the same game."